Net Zero by 2040

Our City of Sydney Council has a proposal to bring the goal of reaching net zero emissions in the LGA forward a decade, from 2050 to 2040. At council on 10/2/2020, Friends of Erskineville members Julie Moffat and Roger Tonkin spoke in support of the proposal. The text of Roger’s statement follows.

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My name is Roger Tonkin. I am a member of the executive committee of the Friends of Erskineville. On behalf of FOE I wish to speak this afternoon in support of the council’s proposal to bring forward to 2040 from 2050 the deadline for the LGA for achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions.

FOE unequivocally supports the council’s proposal.

The justification for bringing forward to 2040 the deadline for achieving net zero emissions is clear: the planet, the global environment and the global economy will become increasingly unsustainable the longer action to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero is delayed.

The environmental and economic consequences of human-induced climate change will continue to worsen until global greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to net zero.

If net emissions remain positive, the environmental degradation and the economic cost will continue to be ratcheted up.

Reducing global greenhouse gas emissions to net zero will not eliminate the environmental degradation or the economic cost that has occurred to that point, but it will prevent the degradation and the cost from getting worse.

In summary, wherever possible, net emissions should be reduced to zero sooner rather than later. Of course, we realise that the problem is global. The solution is global. The council has a small carbon footprint. The council cannot solve the problem. But by moving to net zero emissions sooner rather than later it can play a vital leadership role in mitigating the negative consequences of human-induced climate change.

One final comment. On behalf of FOE I wish to congratulate the council and to commend the council for its advocacy over at least the last decade of the need to mitigate the impacts of climate change.